State lawmakers are not always in touch with what ordinary Ohio families are facing, but a bipartisan group of them is trying to make headway on an issue that touches many. According to a report by the Statehouse News Bureau, more than 75% of Buckeye State workers do not have access to paid leave to deal with medical emergencies, elderly or ill family members or even newborn babies.

There are two efforts to change that. First is state Senate Bill 396, to “establish family and medical leave insurance benefits” by creating a program administered by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Statehouse News Bureau reports it would be funded by workers and employers sending payroll contributions of 0.4% to support paid leave of up to 14 weeks in a 12-month period. Companies already offering such leave could opt out.

That one is sponsored by state Sens. Louis Blessing, R-Colerain Twp., and Beth Liston, D-Dublin. It is sitting in the Senate Financial Institutions, Insurance and Technology Committee.

The second is state House Bill 593, which “regard paid family leave insurance.” It is a similar effort, that has been introduced in the House Insurance Committee, with Rep. Kellie Deeter, R-Norwalk as primary sponsor and Rep. Meredith Craig, R-Smithville, as a cosponsor.

Blessing calls the efforts both pro-business and pro-life. That’s savvy marketing when pitching to a group that has gone to such great lengths to claim they support children and families.

“Millions in our state are faced with this type of situation. In fact, I would argue that almost everybody is faced with a situation like this at some point, whether it’s related to a new birth, a family member that’s sick at home, a new health diagnosis that they have or other tragedy,” Liston told Statehouse News Bureau. “It’s really hard to recover from a financial hit of taking an unpaid leave.”

Blessing is probably right to be worried about whether such a measure will make it to the finish line this year, though one would think lawmakers would be eager to start work on the solution to a problem that affects so many of their constituents.

“I do think it’s something that leadership is going to have to look at very strongly, because I would imagine this is incredibly popular, amongst Ohioans generally. And there’s something like, 14 or 15 states that have already done this,” Blessing told Statehouse News Bureau.

Ohio lawmakers should give serious consideration to joining them.